How to write about the state of the U.S. of A without getting over immersed or sidetracked by political conjecture? That is the loaded question this Asheville, North Carolina's quartet posed when it came to making their third album, the follow-up to 2016's We All The Light.
It was produced & mixed by Paul Butler at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas and of this location, the band note: "From the studio we could see Mexico or, rather, the wall. It seemed a fitting place to make a record about living in America".
With three of the four being vocalists and all of them being song writers, theirs is a joint approach to a potentially overwhelming subject. They have spoken of consciously setting egos aside and of being determined "to be both challenged and enriched by our collective differences".
In an email to an NPR deejay they explained in greater detail the background to their thinking behind the record stating that: "The American experiment was never supposed to be simple. It requires that we all make a constant and persistent effort to reject some of our primitive instincts, to rebel against our lesser selves".
Alex McWalters, Halli Anderson, Ryan O'Keefe, and Dan Shearin are all ex-students of Appalachian State University and while they present a bookish, hipster's eye view of the state of their nation it's also one that's full of instinctive wisdom.
Central to their perspective is the recognition that tolerance and empathy are now commonly regarded as un-American behavior in certain quarters. Kindness has become a rebellious act in an age when violence and selfishness are the default options for resolving disputes and pursuing individual interests.
All this has to be unpicked from what is more akin to Indie pop than the pastoral folk of the group's previous releases and the record is certainly not as downbeat as the subject matter. Tracks like Van Dyke Brown and The Feeling of Freedom are full of danceable rhythms and joyful Graceland-like guitars.
The influence of Paul Simon can also be detected in the deceptively gentle irony of War is Kind, a track that demonstrates they are not interested in empty sloganizing to get their message across.
They know how the seductive influence of the American dream casts its spell but when they sing "All you need's a good idea to get the things you want" this comes in a track entitled Darkness In Mind.
A skepticism about the suburban ideal can be gleaned from the quirky perspective of the cover artwork. As every fan of David Lynch knows, murky secrets commonly lie beneath such glossy veneers. Hidden divisions in the country are overtly referenced in the song and video to Born In The Right Country which includes the telling line "manufactured truth is easy to sell".
Whilst I understand why the band's reluctance to name the enemies of liberty and justice, the expressed aim of speaking truth to power is, by definition, a political act.
Despite the charming, upbeat tone of the arrangements, disillusionment rather than hope drives the songs on this thoughtful and thought-provoking album.
